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Daytona Bike Week 2022: Local Hotels Expecting Massive Influx for 81st Annual Event

Get ready, bikers, because this year’s Daytona Bike Week 2022 is shaping up to be bigger and better than ever. With the pandemic hampering the festivities the last two years, bikers are ready to make the 81st annual Bike Week one for the history books. Riders from every corner of the country are flooding the Sunshine State – even though Bike Week doesn’t officially start until Friday, March 4.

With vendor slots for Bike Week 2022 already sold out, the Daytona area is expecting between 300,000 and 400,000 visitors for the week-long event.

President and CEO of Elite Hospitality Inc., Manoj Bhoola, says that his hotels are already filling up, and expects them to be fully booked soon. “All of our 533 rooms in our Daytona Beach area hotels are expecting to be sold-out through the 10-day event with appropriately higher rates.”

“Unlike last year, we had reservations start to come in two to three months in advance,” Bhoola continues. “With people trying to get back to the new normal, enthusiasm around outdoor events like this one is extremely high. We are seeing that the majority of our customers are from other states than Florida.”

Hotel owners aren’t the only ones noticing the early festivities, either. Janet Kersey, who helped organize the event as a representative of the Daytona Regional Chamber of Commerce, observed the uptick in out-of-state visitors as well.

“It’s pretty awesome,” Kersey said. “This past weekend, I was out and about and I saw a lot of riders. A lot of riders with license plates from across the country, too. People are leaving that cold weather and coming to the Florida sunshine. They just want to travel, and Florida has been open for business.”

Bikers and Businesses Alike Excited for Daytona Bike Week 2022

With an economy tied tightly to tourism, Daytona, Florida has felt the strain of the pandemic. Thankfully, things are slowly getting back to normal. With the Daytona 500 giving the iconic beach a nudge, Bike Week 2022 will serve as another massive push in the right direction.

Bike Week is always an exciting time, but there’s a different level of exuberance surrounding the event this year. Daytona Marriott and Fairfield Inn director of sales, Nancy Guran, says Bike Week 2022 started selling out last year. “We did see interest in Bike Week much earlier than in previous years, with sell-out dates occurring prior to the end of last year for the event,” Guran recalls. “Things are looking great for Bike Week 2022 [being] the best we have ever seen in One Daytona.”

Other hotel managers around the area expressed their excitement as well. “It’s just a good event, and the people who normally travel for Bike Week are still coming out in droves,” says Sun Viking Lodge manager, Greg Brown.

Rob Burnetti, manager of Shores Resort & Spa, couldn’t agree more. “The energy and excitement around Bike Week, we’ve been talking about it for weeks in the hotel community.”

Daytona Beach is warning its visitors to exercise caution, as the pandemic is still a factor. However, bikers and business owners alike are optimistic about Daytona Bike Week 2022 becoming an all-timer.